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NBA MVP Finalist debate – Why Westbrook, Harden and Leonard are correct choices

By Tamberlyn Richardson

Feb 9, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket in front of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 9, 2017; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) drives to the basket in front of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving (2) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) during the fourth quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /
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NBA MVP Debate
May 17, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) before game one of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /

With the formal announcement Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard are the three NBA MVP finalists, debate immediately began over the choices.

Although Russell Westbrook and James Harden weren’t necessarily isolated as the wrong choices for NBA MVP, several fans, players and certain pundits took umbrage with the omissions.

Obviously, the big name missing from the announcement of finalists was LeBron James.  The night the choices were announced James went on a terror continuing his post season explosion. Behind  LeBron’s  30 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists the Cavaliers put a beat down on the Celtics at the Garden.  With his seven consecutive 30 point games. And with the Cavs 10th consecutive 2017 post season win and suddenly highly efficient three point shooting he potentially had an argument.

Related: Westbrook Explosive Stretch Run Locked Up MVP

The King’s angst:

As per NBA.com although LeBron acted like he  didn’t care this wasn’t exactly how the super star felt:

"While James took the high road on camera, he walked out of the arena with a small group of Cleveland beat writers who regularly cover the team and shared his frustration with the awards that have been revealed so far. He first wondered aloud who was the one voter who left him off their All-NBA first team ballot. He then lamented his MVP standing. “Fourth?” James said. “I haven’t been fourth in a long time.”"

Hindsight is 20-20, as had the announcement occurred following the Cavaliers Sunday loss to the Celtics perhaps there would have been less debate. To wit, in the loss James scored just 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting and was 0 of 4 from deep. Compounding the poor performance was his 6 turnovers and 3 points in the second half (zero in the final frame0.  Then again this award isn’t for playoff MVP (they have another award specifically for that .Rather it’s for the regular season.

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